Gullah group enters leadership transition

Provided photo Hallelujah Singer John Simmons belts out a Gullah-themed tune at Campbell Chapel AME Church in 2009. Simmons is now taking on a leadership role as founder Marlena Smalls slims her own role.

Looking for new direction as its founder takes a smaller footprint, the internationally known Hallelujah Singers turned to an Okatie man who came to love the group because it helped bring him closer to his Gullah heritage.

John Simmons, 24, auditioned for the group as a back-up singer during his freshman year at South Carolina State University shortly before a 2007 tour of Spain. But he’d known the group’s founder, Marlena Smalls, since he ushered at the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina as a child with other youth from Campbell Chapel AME Church in Bluffton, site of this year’s Hallelujah Singers Christmas concert at 6 p.m. today.

“After that, it’s been like I knew her all of my life,” he said. “It’s like a mother and son type of relationship we have.”

Smalls founded the group more than 20 years ago in homage to Gullah culture. Typical shows blend Gullah history, culture and songs with lively improvisation, sometimes a cappella, sometimes accompanied with instruments.

“The uniqueness of the music is, to a sense, when you don’t even realize there’s improv,” Simmons said.

Since its inception the group has played high-profile shows at the Kennedy Center and a G-8 Summit, touring throughout Europe and the U.S.

Simmons became a fully-inducted singer with the group between the first tour of Spain and another that came soon after. He said he’s been singing all of his life, whether informally or in church, but it never caught on formally until college.

“I come from a family of singers from my mom’s side,” he said. “I’ve been singing basically all my life, but I didn’t start really taking it seriously until I went to college.”

He said his desire to connect with the Gullah culture and language — spoken by a grandmother in his youth — spurred his involvement with the group.

“This is what brought me to wanting to be a part of the Hallelujah Singers in the first place — just knowing the language and knowing my heritage,” he said.

Smalls, who will maintain creative control even while minimizing her own role, said she quickly pegged Simmons an “old spirit” of great maturity.

“The first year I took him abroad, unlike a lot of the college students, John said ‘This is a wonderful thing for me to put on my resume,’” she said. “He just got it.”

Smalls said she plans to sit down with Simmons to map out the group’s 2013 calendar and the direction of the group. He still has a lot to determine about his leadership role and the audience, but his youth is of great value as the group looks to stay relevant but true to its roots, Smalls added.

“John is young, and we need to increase our audience, but we definitely don’t need to leave the audience that we have,” she said.

In addition to leading songs, Simmons said he’s now handling marketing duties, falling back on his degree from South Carolina State.